Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with antigen presentation.
Dendritic Cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that induce and sustain immune responses and are fundamental in establishing both tolerance and immunity. DCs capture and present antigens to CD4+ T cells, which then determine the quantity and quality of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. There are subsets of DCs1,2, including both myeloid and plasmacytoid DCs (mDCs and pDCs, respectively).
Prior Langerin related agents include those taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,878,528, issued to Duvert-Frances, et al., which include polynucleotides encoding a mammalian Langerhans cell antigen, including purified mammalian DC cell surface protein, designated Langerin, nucleic acids encoding Langerin, and antibodies which specifically bind Langerin.
Other anti-DC related agents are taught in, e.g., United States Patent Application Publication No. 20060257412, filed by Bowdish, et al., which includes a method of treating autoimmune disease by inducing antigen presentation by tolerance inducing antigen presenting cells. Briefly, this application teaches that antibodies to antigen presenting cells may be utilized to interfere with the interaction of the antigen presenting cell and immune cells, including T cells. Peptides may be linked to the antibodies thereby generating an immune response to such peptides, e.g., those peptides associated with autoimmunity.